Windows 7 Play To (Updated: It works!)

Paul Thurrott | Jan 01, 2009

There are a handful of Windows 7 features I’m haven’t been able to test yet, and one of them is Play To, part of Windows Media Player 12. I wrote about Play To back in October in Part 4 of my Windows 7 Preview. This description was based on a Microsoft demo of the feature in the pre-PDC reviewers workshop:

WMP 12 include a demo-rific new feature called Play To that lets the player control network-connected media devices. All this requires is a device that supports the industry standard DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) 1.5 digital media renderer. (It also works with other Windows 7 PCs.) The possibilities here are quite exciting. You could "play to" other devices around your home, say during a party. And you can combine media streaming with Play To, controlling a connected media receiver while streaming content to it from another Windows 7 PC on the home network. I hope to spend some time experimenting with this feature soon.

I don’t believe I have any Play To compatible devices, and I’m curious if anyone knows if there are any yet. But if you have the Beta version of Windows 7, the Play To application window can be manually started by running the application WMPDMC.EXE, in the Windows Media Player folder. Here’s what it looks like:

I don’t see a way to Play To other Windows 7 PCs, but that seems like an obvious way to test it. I’m also surprised you can’t Play To an Xbox 360.

UPDATE: Thanks to xiphi in the comments section, I was able to get Play To working from Windows 7 PC to PC. Here’s a shot: